Man Utd has spent more than 10 years unable to win the Premier League, can the appearance of billionaire Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS group help the “Red Devils” return to the top position?
Yesterday (December 24), after successfully reaching an agreement to own 25% of Man Utd’s shares, billionaire Jim Ratcliffe affirmed: “Our common ambition is very clear, all of us Everyone wants to see Man Utd return to where we belong, the pinnacle of English, European and world football.”
The reason the British billionaire made such a statement is because according to the agreement with the Board of Directors of the Manchester football team, billionaire Jim Ratcliffe’s INEOS company will take control of the club’s football activities, including football activities. including men’s team, women’s team and academy, and Ratcliffe will invest an additional 300 million USD to develop Man Utd.
To put it simply, Ratcliffe will have the right to decide on the operation and development of football at Man Utd. Man Utd’s performance will of course depend closely on decisions from “upstairs”, namely from Ratcliffe and INEOS.
Jim Ratcliffe was born in the northwest of England, he grew up in Oldham. He always affirmed that he was a lifelong supporter of Man Utd. In 1999, Ratcliffe was in the stands when Sir Alex Ferguson’s side completed a treble by defeating Bayern Munich in the Champions League final in Barcelona, Spain.
Previously, Ratcliffe tried to buy Chelsea and Newcastle United, but were unsuccessful. INEOS’ football portfolio also includes Nice in France, FC Lausanne in Switzerland and RC Abidjan in Ivory Coast.
INEOS’s core business is the global production of petrochemicals, and it had sales of $65 billion (£82.3 billion) in the latest year. According to the 2023 Sunday Times rich list, Ratcliffe’s net worth increased from $6.075 billion to $29.6 billion from 2022 to 2023.
Ratcliffe owns 60% of INEOS, with the remainder divided between two business partners, Andy Currie and John Reece, who are 13th and 14th on the UK rich list, with Ratcliffe in second place.